New Product Scientifically Battles Aging at the Cellular Level

OK, this is a press release designed to pump this company so I ordinarily wouldn't post it. However, it says that they actually have a product ready for consumer use. This is very odd. I've actually been following this research for a number of years and the latest news has been that it was essentially at a dead-end. The telomerase theory of cell aging has fallen out of favor with most researchers so I was pretty surprised to see this. Anyone have any thoughts?

_______________________

New Product Scientifically Battles Aging at the Cellular Level-Exclusively licensed from the Geron Corporation, TA-65 is the world's first Telomerase Activator

PR Newswire

04-09-07

NEW YORK, April 9, 2007 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Telomerase Activation Sciences, Inc. (TA Sciences) announced on March 12 its license with Geron to develop and market non-therapeutic products using Geron's small molecule telomerase activators. Now TA Sciences announces the opening of the TA Sciences Center in Manhattan where customers can purchase TA Sciences' first product, a nutraceutical containing the telomerase activating agent "TA-65."

"TA Sciences welcomes our first customers and the launch of the world's first telomerase activator product," said Noel Thomas Patton, founder of TA Sciences. "A natural consequence of aging is the shortening of telomeres (caps of DNA located at the ends of all chromosomes), which ultimately results in loss of cell function. TA-65 offers the potential of reducing or reversing telomere shortening and battles tissue and organ degeneration by rejuvenating aging cells."

TA-65 is the result of vigorous scientific research that began at Geron in 1992. Already the response from the scientific community to the news of TA Sciences' ground-breaking launch has been very enthusiastic: "Telomerase Activation is the single most promising approach to reversing the effects of aging," said Michael Fossel, MD, PhD., Clinical Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University, author, and recognized authority on aging and age- related clinical disease.

And Dr. William H. Andrews, founder of Sierra Sciences, LLC and one of the principal discoverers of the telomerase genes, said: "Cleopatra, Ponce de Leon, and untold others throughout the ages have searched for the secrets of youth. That search has been futile, until now: Telomerase Activation is the first and only scientifically sound way to approach anti- aging. TA-65 is the first product in history that has been proven to slow or reverse cellular aging. Congratulations to TA Sciences and Geron!"

On April 30, 2007 TA Sciences plans to publish the results of the Pivotal 2005 Anti-Aging Trial, which is the first ever human clinical trial of a telomerase activator. This trial shows statistical verification of the anti- aging benefits of telomerase activation.

The telomerase aging theory is no longer the accepted scientific idea for why we age? since when?

I know there is an argument for mitochondrial DNA degradation being the cause for aging...but this theory very easily coincides with the telomerase aging theory.

Also, look at cancer cells. They are subjected to the same oxidants and stress that normal cells go through, if not 1000 times more because of chemotherapy and radiation. Yet these cells are incredibly resilient. This is because their telomerases do not degrade when the cells split.

The telomerase aging theory is no longer the accepted scientific idea for why we age? since when?

I know there is an argument for mitochondrial DNA degradation being the cause for aging...but this theory very easily coincides with the telomerase aging theory.

Also, look at cancer cells. They are subjected to the same oxidants and stress that normal cells go through, if not 1000 times more because of chemotherapy and radiation. Yet these cells are incredibly resilient. This is because their telomerases do not degrade when the cells split.

The stuff I've been reading has been leading more and more to the conclusion that the telomere shortening that happens with aging is more a sign of ageing rather than a cause of it.

The analogy often used is that telomere shortening is being viewed more like the greying of hair as one gets older. There's clearly a degeneration happening but reversing it wouldn't necessarily reverse ageing.

Other articles have been postulating that halting the shortening of telomeres could be part of an anti-ageing program.

But, the big hype from the 1990s that telomeres were THE answer has pretty much died away everywhere except at Geron. Much of what I'm reading now focusses on how gene expression regulation can be utilized to reverse disease and ageing.

I'd love it if one could simply take a telomerease drug and halt the telomere shortening.........I just thought this line of research had been abandoned. It was startling to read about a product being ready for consumers. If this thing had gone through the FDA approval process I would have expected it to garner a lot of media attention.

Hm..i must admit i am a bit out of the loop, and you are probably more up to date on the subject.

Id like to point out that the fact remains that a cell whose telomere doesnt degrade, is immortal.

In vitro yes. They still have cell lines which for all intents and purposes are immortal. But they're finding that the rate of decay in vivo isn't as linear as they once thought. Some animals with long telomeres have short lifespans and vice-versa. Within a species, telomere length can be a rough predicter of relative lifespan but in vivo they weren't finding that keeping telomeres from unraveling actually slowed ageing. So, it may still be a factor but it's not as if pumping the body full of telomerase stops ageing.

I really wish it were and I used to even own stock in Geron because I thought this held so much promise....kinda why I still scan the press for articles about it.

Now, they've licensed their technology to this supplement company. It would be exciting if they'd actually come up with a way to utilize their findings but I dubious.

A quick pubmed search didn't turn up anything recent that caught my attention (most of the exciting looking articles were from the late 1990s).

If you know anything I'd love to learn it. Most of what I read on the subject these days is in the financial press where they explain the current state of research in the context of how viable the business model is. So, I may be missing something which is going on in the medical/academic press.